Version 1.9.0.x Change Notes

Cue Stacks now support a configurable period of timecode to loop when using the internal timecode feature of a Cue Stack.

An in and out point can be configured using the "Timecode loop in" and "Timecode loop out" setting under VIEW OPTIONS on a Cue Stack.

The in and out points will also show up within the Timeline Editor window, and can be configured directly from the window by selecting SHIFT + CONFIG TC LOOP, and using the encoders to set the desired in and out points.

The "SET LOOP IN POINT" and "SET LOOP OUT POINT" soft buttons will set the relevant in or out point to the current timecode value of the playback.

The current timecode can be set to the loop in point from the Timeline Editor window by using the SHIFT + RESTART LOOP soft button, or the SHIFT + PB Timecode encoder.

When a Cue Stack has timecode steps, the GO and PAUSE buttons will now allow control of the timecode playback static when using internal timecode or the external timecode simulator. If the timecode is paused, then the GO button will start the timecode from where it was paused. Similarly if the timecode is running, then the PAUSE button will stop the timecode where it is.

Pressing GO when the timecode is already running will progress the Cue Stack to the next cue in the same way as a non timecode enabled Cue Stack works and the timecode will continue to run as before. This is useful in the case where there are some Cues which don’t have a timecode and need to be manually triggered during the stack.

The Fast Forward and Fast Back buttons as part of the crossfade section will jump back and forward between the Cues, and will also update the current timecode. This allows for fast navigation around timecode enabled Cue Stacks.

When a Cue Stack has an audio file associated with it, playback of the audio file will follow the position of the timecode when controlled above.

The playback timecode can now be modified using the "PB Timecode" encoder in the Timeline Editor window, as well as using the encoder button to start and stop the timecode. Pressing the encoder button whilst holding shift will restart the timecode to the start.

It is now possible to move and copy one or more items within a TC Track. The TC Track also now has an End marker to enable moving/copying beyond the end of currently recorded TC Tracks. When items are moved / copied their times will be automatically be adjusted so that they follow the times of the item they are moved/copied after.

When recording a TC Track, other TC Tracks will now play back as expected - previously when recording TC Tracks other TC Tracks were disabled from playing.

The same copying and moving can be carried out in Macro, View Data.

In the Macro Window, View Zones is now always visible as part of the four main views, View Macro, View Data, View Autom, View Zones to make the View Zones easier to access.

The INBUILT MACRO soft button has been moved to the right and the ASSIGN MACRO and DEASSIGN MACRO soft buttons have been combined - use SHIFT + DEASSIGN to deassign a macro.

The playback volume of both the Cue Stack audio and Cue audio files on a playback can now be controlled using the fader level. This option can be enabled using the "Fader controls audio volume" setting within the Fader tab of the Cue Stack options.

The Output Grid now supports a much enhanced library of head shape symbols including LED bars, LED panels, Ellipsoidals, fresnels, strobes, light panels and others. To show head shapes go to View Grid in the Output window, View Plan and set the Grid Option, Show Symbols.

The Shape of an individual head can be set in the shape field in Patch. Each Head type also has a default shape that is set by ChamSys when the head personality is created.

Head Shapes can be rotated in the Output grid.

When Colour Tags are in use the Head Shape will be coloured according to the Colour Tag of that head.

When the head has intensity and colour then the front of the lamp symbol is illuminated in that colour to quickly identify the current output of that Head.

In the Grid Options, there is an option "Keep Aspect Ratio" that will maintain the aspect ratio to the loaded background image, or if not image is selected will keep the Grid cells square.

As well as Heads and Groups it is now possible to put key Macros in the Output Grid. For example this could be used to put CLEAR, LOCATE or changes to intensity into the Grid.

Like Groups from the Group Window, simply copy the Macro from the Macro Window into the Grid when in View Grid. If the Macro has an icon assigned then that icon will be shown in the Grid.

The Intensity Plan Type has been moved from a global setting in Setup, View Settings, Windows to a per grid option in Grid Options in the Output Window, View Grid.

The Cue Stack macro commands X,Y,N, K and D (Serial, Ethernet, MIDI, OSC and Audio commands) can now be placed after other macro commands in the Macro field. They must be the last command in the Macro field. Previously they had to be the one and only macro command. As before, only one macro command X,Y,N,K,D can be in a Macro field. For example it is now possible to do:

A1 R2 Y"G2"

G2 K/pb/1/go

On MQ500/500M the manual GO button now does not support jumping to a Cue ID (when a Cue ID is entered before pressing manual GO) - instead this can be done with the dedicated GOTO button. This avoids accidentally jumping in the Cue Stack.

SHIFT + GOTO can be now used to jump imediately without fade to a specific Cue ID.

Improved reporting during RDM readdress and repatch.

The CAST WYSIWYG Driver now supports 256 universes, up from 32 (depending on the supported universe count of the connected MagicQ PC or console). To update the driver, install MagicQ on the same PC as WYSIWYG (the driver is now part of the standard MagicQ PC install). You can install a previous version of MagicQ afterwards if desired. The WYSIWYG demo show is in show/demos/magicqwysiwyg.wyg.

The number of emitters for a fixture is now editable in the Options tab of the Head Editor.

Default colourimetry for a number of fixture types has been improved.

Importing Scene Objects from MVR files has been disabled as of this version.

The list of monitors in Setup, View System, View Monitors has been updated so that all consoles now show Monitor 1 as the internal monitor. Previously for MQ40N/MQ50/MQ60/MQ70/MQ80/MQ100 the internal monitor was not in the list, with the list starting from the first external. When upgrading consoles to new software the monitor data will be updated correctly. If downgrading a system it will be necessary to readjust the monitor data for external monitors after the downgrade.

On MQ500 and MQ500M the top menu bar is now always hidden on start up. To show the toolbar got to Setup, View Settings and press the Show Menu Bar soft button.

On MagicQ PC, the ALT key will now be released if it is down for more than 10 seconds - this avoids problems when ALT TABing between different applications. The ALT shortcuts have been re-enabled as per Compact consoles.

On MQ500/MQ500M panel modes make the ALT key now operates as a toggle like the SHIFT and CONTROL keys.

The colour picker now supports the MagicQ timing syntax, for example the * character can be used to perform offset fades.

Patch, CHOOSE DIM/MEDIA, GENERIC LED now gives a broader range of LED fixtures including ones with VDIMs.

When cloning heads or copying head programming, heads with VDIMs now also clone / copy head programming for the VDIM. #0026428

Improved speed of patching very large number of fixtures - for example 15,000 RGB or RBG with VDIM.

When setting the Cue Stack option, Fader controls manual crossfade to Yes, the options Fader controls HTP, Fader controls LTP and Fader controls Absolute chans are automatically set to No. Similarly when setting any of the options Fader controls HTP, Fader controls LTP or Fader controls Absolute chans then Fader controls manual crossfade is set to No.

When manually saving a show file on the master console, the slave consoles no longer perform a resync. Instead the Slave consoles also save show files. Saving a show file on a slave also causes the master and other slaves to save their show files.

Show settings are now synced whenever a change is made. Previously they were only synced on a full Slave resync. Note that it is still possible to have separate show settings on consoles within a net session - if using Users and different users are logged into the consoles, and the users are set to auto load settings.

When using playback sync, Cue Stacks in Execute Grids are now synced between the consoles. Other Execute items are not synced as they may be used independently. When multi console programmer sync is active, then MagicQ will keep the programmer data synced - but head selection remains separate, so Groups and Palettes in Execute Grids will not normally be synced.

When using programmer sync, BLIND is now synchronised between the consoles. This enables users on Slave consoles to program and edit Cues without affecting the physical output.

When using programmer sync, it is now possible to apply palettes with time, and to use timed BLIND and timed CLEAR.

Grid Options have been split out into Grid Options and Grid Actions. Grid Actions are the more signifcant actions that require confirmation / selection of files whilst options are purely enabled/disabled options.

The audio input sound detection has been improved when using PC/Mac sound card in the Windows/Mac and on MQ70.

On MagicQ consoles, Exec Grid, View Max now shows Exec 2 window on the second monitor and Exec 3 window on the third monitor in maximum size, if the Exec 2 and Exec 3 windows are open and the console supports the 2nd and/or 3rd monitors.

It is now possible to display the user splash screen when a MagicQ console is locked using a special shortcut sequence. Hold down Cursor Left, Cursor Down and Cursor Right and press Cursor Up. The user splash screen (usersplash.bmp / usersplash.png / usersplash.jpg) that is shown on startup is then shown when the console is locked. If no user splash screen file is available then the monitors will show "Locked". This feature is only supported on MagicQ consoles, not on MagicQ PC systems.

The Patch view now supports scrolling of sub tabs to enable more than 20 different fixture types to be accessed within the window.

The Autom Window now has a State field which shows information about Autom functions that are currently active.

It is possible to view the function that it active by pressing the VIEW ITEM soft button and perform actions such as activate,step and release. The Cue Stack window is then locked to that Cue Stack until the UNLOCK WINDOW button is pressed.

The Cue Stack window has always supported activating or stepping to a Cue by placing the cursor in the first column and pressing ENTER. This has now been extended to enable releasing by pressing ENTER on the End box at the bottom of the Cue Stack.

When viewing a Cue Stack that was selected from View Item in the Stack Store, Automation or Exec windows, and is not active then it will not be assigned a playback and the title bar of the Cue Stack Window will show "No PB".

Now, if ENTER is pressed on the first column the Cue Stack will automatically be assigned a playback and be activated and the title bar will show the assigned Playback. Previously it was not possible to activate a Cue Stack that was unassigned from the Cue Stack window.

When released by pressing ENTER on the End box, a Cue Stack that was temporarily assigned a playback will become unassigned, but it can be activated and assigned again by pressing ENTER on a step.

The Autom functions "Stack activate" and "Stack a,r,level" have been extended to support Cue ID. When specified the Cue Stack will be activated to the requested Cue ID instead of the first Cue. Note that MagicQ references the Cue ID in the Cue Stack so if additional point Cues are added in the Cue Stack it will maintain the link to the same Cue ID - this means that you can set triggers for Specific Cues but can add in extra follow on Cue Steps in the Cue Stack that will not change the Cues being triggered.

In previous versions when Cue Stacks were activated from the Stack Store, Execute or automations they would always use temporary playbacks assigned regardless of whether they were on a playback on the current page. Now, when Cue Stacks are activated from these locations if the Cue Stack is on a playback on the current page, then that playback will be used instead of a temporary playback. This enables easier testing and manual control of the Cue Stack, but does mean that the Playback is blocked if the user wishes to change page to other playbacks. The Cue Stack can therefore be stopped, stepped and released from the playback buttons.

There is now a fader mode to control how faders work when activated from Stack Store, Execute or automations versus normal manual activation by raising playback faders. In the default "Original" mode the automations and Executes still cause fader to be activated in "test" mode, which means the fader will not control the level. This can be modified by changing the new option Setup, View Settings, Playback, Fader Mode to be set to "Combined" which combines normal fader mode with the test modes - it this mode playbacks will never report as "Test".

The maximum number of automations has been increased to 1000.

It is now possible to block and unblock Cues in the Track Sheet View by pressing SHIFT and BLOCK CUE and UNBLOCK CUE.

The Track Sheet view now automatically adjusts column sizing, and the rows have been made slightly taller.

Cue Stack macros and the ChamSys Remote Ethernet Protocol have also been enhanced to support choosing the start Cue when activation (testing) a Cue Stack in the Stack Store.

For Cue Stack Macros

E <Cue Stack id>/<Level>/<Cue Id> Activate Cue Stack at level. Cue Id is optional.

For ChamSys Remote Protocol

\<82> , <cue stack id> , <level> , <cue id> H Test Cue Stack, level and cue id are optional (default to 100% and first cue)

The Playback and Cue Stack Store now show the current Cue Id when the respective Playback or Cue Stack is active.

The Execute Windows now show the current Execute item ID in the title bar - this makes it easier to reference Execute items from Cue Stack macros and automations.

The rotation handle for the focus line now works. Before, the handle did not follow the mouse cursor properly and was also reversed in side view.

Circular truss position and shape are now more accurate. If a circular truss had more than one axis of rotation the plot view symbol did not match the 3D view, or the position of fixtures. Circular trusses that were not complete circles would also occasionally be flipped 180 degrees.

Model’s outlines are flipped correctly and rotated correctly. User models were sometimes flipped or rotated incorrectly, often in the pdf view.

Drape symbol has been added. A more complete wireframe model has been added to the 3D view.

Attach object filter view works again, rotations and position changes of fixtures in this view now work how they should.

Improvements have been made to the focus hold and focus line, so they now work with any rotation value. This also works with the filter set to attach object.

Direction of the fixtures symbols has improved and now point in the correct direction. The angle of fixtures would sometimes be incorrect in the plot view by a few degrees or flipped 180 degrees, especially when placed on circular trusses at unusual angles.

The line thickness in the generated PDFs are now thicker so they are visible.

The 3D view now has a setting for smooth shadows. The shadow edges could sometimes be very sharp and jagged, this is especially noticeable if the surface is a curved edge.

Plot View datum axis is now coloured to show which view you are looking at. Red, green, and blue for x, y, and z axis. This now also rotates when the view is rotated.

The Create Grid function has been improved - previously it could only create grids up to 100x100 in size. It now works for grids bigger than 100x100 where it is being used for pixel mapping rather than rig plots. So now it allows grids up to the size of patchable channels - with 256 universes that gives limits of 362x362, 1024x128 or 1x131,072.

There is now a new option to optimise grids, in Output, View Plan, press SHIFT + OPTIMISE GRID. This will remove all unused rows and columns from the Grid, which can be useful particularly after using the Create Grid function. Note that this is only for User Grids - Group Grids cannot be optimised.

When setting the grid size for the first time MagicQ now prompts whether the grid should be multi element or not.

When the crossfader is set as a rate master it is now possible to use the FFWD and FBCK buttons (<< and >>) to halve and double the current playback rate.

When the crossfader is set to Rate master, Global Rate Master, Cue Stack Rate Master, and Cue Stack Global Rate Master the direction of the fader has been reversed to match rate control on playback faders - fader at 100% represents fastest rate, at 0% represents slowest rate.

Rates throughout MagicQ are now shown in % of rate rather than % of time - so 50% is half speed and 200% is double speed. In previous versions 50% represented 50% time - i.e. double speed.

When the crossfader is set to manual, the manual pickup has now been improved. #0018407

Remote control operation has been improved where the remote control system has a lower resolution than the target console being controlled. Column based views (such as Patch, Prog, Output Grid, Playbacks) are now resized to the size of the remote whilst they are being operated from the remote. Clicking back on the target console restores the windows to their normal size.

The operation of the remote has been improved so that the windows zoom and scroll better and on windows with background bitmaps (such as Output Window, Grid View) the background is always in the correct place.

When using a single display MagicQ PC/Mac to remote control a console with multiple monitors the monitor can now be selected using the Mon 1, Mon 2, Mon 3 and Mon 4 buttons on the panel. This prevents the need to create layout views specifically for the remote - the remote can be used to view the layouts recorded for use on the console.

When remote controlling, the top toolbar menus now apply to the remote - so it is possible to use these to open, close and resize windows and to select layouts.

The encoder soft buttons on the remote have been inverted so they now match the operation on the console (they were previously the opposite of the console).

The MagicHD menus have been reviewed and updated to make them easier to understand:

The MagicQ menus have been changed to match those in MagicHD - The "Window…​" option within "Media Player" option has been renamed to "Window position". - The "Fullscreen" option within "Media Player" option has been moved into the "Window position" menu.

Support for remote control of Stadium consoles has been improved, including support from the remote console for the dynamic window sizes, the layout buttons legends, and support for clicking in the title bar to focus and close windows.

The Setup options to set the number of fixed boxes, and to select specific windows to always appear on monitors have now been moved into Setup, View, System, View Monitors and are now available for all monitors.

The FAN toolbar has now been made double height to enable selection of parts and segments independently so fanning can take place on a combination of parts and segments.

When recording Palettes, MagicQ now does more stringent checking for attributes that have been changed in the programmer when determining whether to link to other palettes. If pan, tilt, cyan, magenta or yellow are being recorded and any of them have been changed in the programmer, then none of the attributes recorded into the palette will be linked. For example, if recording a pan and tilt palette, if pan and/or tilt are changed but pan speed is in the programmer but from another palette, then the all attributes including the pan speed will be recorded as hard values in the Palette without links.

When recording a Layout, MagicQ now remembers the monitor mask from the previous Layout record.

In the Cue Stack Default options there are now soft buttons to set the default for Cue Timing/Chase Timing and Auto Active/Go Rel Active. Previously it was necessary to edit multiple options.

The show extras file can now be disabled from automatically saving if it is particularly large by changing the setting in Setup, View Settings, Extras file create mode to 'Manual'. The show extras file can then be generated by pressing Shift + SAVE EXTRAS in the setup window. This provides a solution if the show extras file is particularly large and taking a long time to generate.

MQ70 consoles now show UPS battery charge status.

More thorough checks are made when changing the IP address and subnet mask of the wired and Wi-Fi interfaces. MagicQ will refuse to accept an invalid IP address or subnet mask, and will disable the Wi-Fi if the wired and Wi-Fi subnets overlap. #0026106.

Audio playback on both Cue and Cue Stack audio files will fade out over time if a Cue Stack release time is set.

A default Col tag for a Cue Stack can now be set for both single and multi step Cue Stacks in Cue Stack, View Options, View Defaults.

Added support for attribute filtering on copying Cue Stacks to selected heads or copying Cue Stacks with selected heads only.

In Group window, View Heads, View Selected mode show head index and allow reordering of selected heads using the Move action button.

Added support for Include and Update of Groups and added a new View Group option to view the heads of the last selected Group in the Group Window, View Heads, To change the order of selection in a Group, first Include the Group into the programmer using Include and selecting the Group. In Group Window, View Heads, View Group reselect the heads in the required order. Use the DESELECT ALL soft button as required. Then press Update to update the Group.

MagicQ now stores background image files used within Output Grids and background files and button images used within the Execute Window into the file extras .xhw file, so that they can be transferred to other MagicQ systems more easily.

It is now possible to clear icons on items by press SHIFT SET and selection the "No Icon" category.

Increased the destination size of files that the CMV convertor can write - it can now write files up to 2047 pixels wide or up to 2047 pixels high - but note that CMV files should be kept to the size of the output gird wherever possible to maintain playback performance.